"It speaks to where we are as a team," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. "There's nothing sort of celebratory about this. These moves are made because, collectively as an organization, we haven't performed well enough, in this year anyway.

Oakland's Yoenis Cespedes will bring his powerful bat to the Red Sox after being dealt for Jon Lester. AP PHOTO

A day off for the players was an around-the-clock marathon for team officials as they considered numerous possibilities before Thursday's trade deadline.

They parted with their two best starters, sending left-hander Lester to the Oakland Athletics and right-hander Lackey to the St. Louis Cardinals. Then they weakened their bullpen by trading lefty Miller to the Baltimore Orioles for Double-A left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez one day after Miller struck out the side in his final inning with Boston.

They also dealt away two underachieving hitters -- outfielder Gomes going with Lester to Oakland and shortstop Drew heading for the rival New York Yankees for third baseman Kelly Johnson.

Advertisement

The Red Sox did get two key offensive pieces, outfielders Cespedes from Oakland and Craig from St. Louis. They provide power at a position that has produced just 17 homers this season, matching Cespedes' total for the season.

Right-hander Kelly also came from the Cardinals and will go immediately into the rotation. He is 2-2 with a 4.37 ERA and has spent most of the season on the disabled list

"It didn't make any sense to us to trade both Lester and Lackey unless we were getting at least one major league starting pitcher back, if not major league players, total, back," Cherington said. "It just would have made the next several months even more difficult to build to what we want to be."

He's intent on building a contending team for 2015.

The trades give the Red Sox the last two months of the season to assess their promising young starters. Rubby De La Rosa, Brandon Duckworth and Allen Webster already are in Boston. Anthony Ranaudo will be promoted from Triple-A Pawtucket and make his major-league debut Friday night against the New York Yankees.

Lester, who can become a free agent after the season, has said he hasn't ruled out returning to Boston.

"He's an Oakland A right now so I don't think it's right for me to talk about that," Cherington said.

After being traded, Lester tweeted, "Thank y'all cant tell you how much your support means to me and my family. Excited to contribute to a very talented (at)Athletics team!"

Another tweet from designated hitter David Ortiz: "Wishing my man Jon Lester all the best"

Cherington said third baseman Will Middlebrooks will be promoted from his rehab stint at Pawtucket before Friday's game and struggling rookie Xander Bogaerts, who moved to third when the Red Sox signed Drew on May 22, will return to shortstop. Right fielder Shane Victorino could go on the disabled list with a back problem and Cespedes will start in his place until he's healthy, Cherington said.

Lester and Lackey leave five days after Jake Peavy was traded to the San Francisco Giants and one day after Felix Doubront went to the Chicago Cubs, leaving Boston with just Clay Buchholz as a member of its original rotation.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.